Xbox Preview Program is now open to all, renamed to Xbox Insider

Microsoft began the Xbox Preview Program in February of 2014 – invite only, it asked users to contribute to the Xbox platform with their ideas, suggestions, and feedback. Now, the Xbox team feels it is time to update the program, and so we have the Xbox Insider Program.

The Xbox Preview Program is now called the Xbox Insider Program, and the new program is no longer an invite-only program, but an opt-in one. Any Xbox user can choose to opt-in to the Xbox Insider Program, and help Microsoft elevate the Xbox experience for everyone; this change hasn’t happened yet – but is coming soon.

The Xbox Preview Dashboard is now called Xbox Insider Hub and comes with a brand-new interface to compliment the new features that this program brings – yes, it’s not just a name change. The new interface is inspired by the Xbox One experience.

The Xbox Preview Program primarily focused on Xbox system updates – that’s still a thing, but the Xbox Insider program extends over to apps and “new experiences” as well.

The new Insider Hub will also let you opt in and out of individual previews – if you don’t want the system updates but want everything else, you can do that.

One thing to note, though: the Xbox system updates – for now – will be limited to those already testing them; new members won’t be receiving these updates because the Xbox team already has a massive amount of volunteers contributing to the testing and feedback process for these updates.

Those who do participate in the new Insider program will get a unique Insider profile card to showcase their contributions to the Insider program.

You can read more details about the new Insider program on Microsoft’s blog, as well as check out the official FAQ for the program over here.